Quatro: Rough Times
by corneroffandom
Summary: When some of the group is having a difficult time this Halloween season, the others decide to try to make things better.


Wade grunts as he wakes up, groggy and more than a little disoriented. It's mid-afternoon, clearly, the Florida sun slowly starting to disappear in the crystal blue sky and after a moment of squinting at the digital clock next to the bed, he remembers that it's Halloween. One of Heath's favorite holidays. It's tempting just to hide and not indulge the man in whatever nonsense he might think up, but... He grunts and rolls out of bed, wondering where exactly Heath's at, before stumbling into the living room where he stops short.

Boodah is sprawled out on the floor, his injured leg lost under blankets and a few melted ice packs. Heath is next to him, his face buried in the dog's warm fur and an arm slung over his back. The dog is wide awake, attentive despite the pain, but his owner is fast asleep. Boodah's eyes track Wade as he steps towards them, a soft whine coming from the dog. Heath stirs and snuggles closer to Boodah. "It's ok, Boodah boy, you're gonna be ok," he murmurs sleepily. "Me'n'Brit, we'll take good care of ya."

Wade smiles despite himself and kneels down next to Heath, resting a hand against Heath's back and another on Boodah's nose, lightly scritching right above his eyes. The dog slowly melts into it while Heath stirs and pulls away, looking up at him. "Well, it's about time you woke up, Ginger," he says softly, smirking at the two of them. "I thought you were going to sleep through Halloween."

Heath gapes at him for a moment before looking down at Boodah. "Aw man, I love Halloween, but we can't really leave 'im... guess the others'll have to celebrate without me. You can go though."

Wade scoffs and shakes his head. "Bloody hell no, ginger. They're more _your_ friends than mine." Getting up, he holds his hands out to Heath and waits until Heath accepts, allowing himself to get to his feet as well. "We'll crate the mutt and bring him along to Del Rio's, then you can keep an eye on him but still have some fun too. How's that sound?"

Heath looks over his shoulder at his morose looking dog before nodding. "Perfect." Leaning up, he kisses Wade softly. "Thanks, Brit. You think of everything."

Wade smirks and squeezes his arm. "Let's go get into those bloody ridiculous costumes before the others get here."

-x

"I can't believe Ziggler refused to leave the car until we were parked behind the house," Heath scoffs, Zack helping him carry Boodah's crate towards the patio entrance. "Who did he really think was going to see him?"

Zack laughs weakly, glancing over at Wade and Dolph as they trudge after them into the house. "Well, his costume is kind of... um... the meanest of them all?"

"Hey, you were the one who suggested it!" Heath grouses, staring incredulously at Zack.

"I know, I know." Zack grimaces. "Because I thought he deserved it at the time, but I dunno. His brushing off Summer like he did, well... changed things, I guess."

"It's just one night," Heath insists. "He'll live. Besides, it's too late to change the costumes around now."

"I guess," Zack sighs.

They make it to the kitchen and settle Boodah's crate down, Heath unlatching it and reaching in to guide him out and over to a pile of blankets Wade had put down while waiting for them. Once he's comfortable and with fresh ice on his leg, Heath hesitates while the others go to the living room, watching as Ricardo's puppy, Zero, noses around Boodah curiously and nips at him playfully until the bigger dog swats at him, tempering him immediately. Zero whines but then settles in next to him with a bone, seemingly content to share his space.

Heath breathes a little easier before following the others. Del Rio, expectedly, isn't dressed as anything, and is currently staring at the others with an incredulous smirk on his face. "You all are ridiculo," he says. "I can only imagine what role you'd have given Ricardo if he were still here."

His face clouds over while Heath looks them over once more. Zack's face is painted silver, the rest of his body covered in shiny tin. Even his shoes are silver and rigid. It looks uncomfortable as hell, but Zack is bearing it with his standard grin. Wade looks far from pleased with his costume, arms crossed as he blows at strands of golden brown mane trying to blow into his mouth with each inhale. He's wearing a matching suit and claws and Heath had almost laughed till he was crying the first time he saw him in it. As for himself, he'd just recycled his scarecrow costume from Smackdown a few years back, which had nearly caused a handful of straw to be thrown at his head, but whatever. It was just how things shook out. The costume _fit_ , that was the important thing.

Ziggler though, well. His costume was something that all of them were trying not to stare at too closely, and yet... it was hard to look away from. If Heath hadn't been privy to the conversation that had gotten him _into_ the costume, he never would've believed Zack had convinced him at all. Blue pinafore dress over a white shirt, socks and red shoes, hair done in pigtails... even a little basket. It's ridiculous and all of them are either struggling not to laugh, or outright guffawing at him. To his credit, he's taking it in strides, ignoring all of them and staring at Zack with his hands on his hips, which somehow makes the entire thing even more ludicrous. "We really couldn't get a diva in on this?"

"Nope," Zack says simply, picking at some cracker sandwiches Sofia had laid out. That seems to be the end of it because Dolph huffs and stomps off, sitting down heavily on the couch. "That's not very lady-like, bro," Zack calls out to him as he fights to adjust the skirt.

"Shut up!" he yells back at him.

Zack grins and fills a plate of the sandwiches, little sausages and other snacks Sofia had put together for them, grabbing glasses of apple cider and joining Dolph. He waves the cider at him until Dolph grudgingly takes it.

They're all still sitting there when Ethan arrives, his cats in their own carriers which he settles down gently on the living room floor, letting them out to explore. Skunk and Clover pad around, sniffing at the new surroundings before coming across Kitty and Misty, who stare at them beadily. Ethan and Alberto both watch warily but the kittens wander away from the older cats and peace settles back over the room while they wait for trick or treaters. Sofia brings in some subs and greets them all before going in to check on Boodah and Zero.

"Don't expect to see her again," Alberto says. "She loves dogs." He clicks as Skunk tries to hop up onto the couch to be with Ethan, eventually leaning over and picking the kitten up since Ethan's hands are full with Clover and half of a sub. He watches as more of the sub goes to the cats than to Ethan himself, smirking slightly.

They're all either eating or talking when the gate finally buzzes for their first trick or treaters of the night. Something Ricardo had started to encourage years ago after a fluke visit from a lost woman and her son, this would be the first year the kids wouldn't get to see him, but, Alberto thinks, it's ok, because they get Zack and Heath's ridiculous hyper attitudes to keep them entertained while they fill their bags and buckets with candy and he gets to talk to their parents about where Ricardo's at, watching their eyes widen in awe when they learn. _It is pretty amazing,_ he concedes, bittersweet but proud when he thinks about his former ring announcer and how far he's come since leaving WWE.

It doesn't keep Alberto from missing him to much that it hurts, however.

After the subs are ate, and the light is turned off because it's almost 9 PM and most of the trick or treaters they've expected have been and gone, Heath and Zack begin arguing over whether to watch Hocus Pocus or Halloween 4 when Wade sharply clears his throat, distracting both of them. "What time is it?" he demands, staring at Heath, who flushes.

"Oh, son of a..." Scrambling, he gives up on getting control of the remote and lunges for where his phone is sitting, Zack's eyes widening as he moves back over next to Dolph, who's refused to move during all of this, and pulls _his_ phone out of the basket. Ethan and Alberto exchange odd looks before turning back to the others, watching with some confusion. "Can't believe I almost forgot... for..." Letting out a woop of success, he grins as his phone screen lights his face up. "Hey man! Sorry, were ya waitin' long?"

"Bro, sorry, almost forgot. Yeah, Heath and I were- how did you know?" Zack laughs awkwardly before getting back up and walking over to Ethan. "Yep, well, here ya go."

Ethan frowns before looking at the screen, his eyes widening. It's nearly 2 AM in England, but even so, here he finds himself staring at Rockstar Spud, dressed in a suit covered in jackolanterns making a variety of faces. "Well, damn," he mumbles, taking the phone from Zack. "Did you stay up this late just to talk to me?"

"Of course I did, sir," he says. "Happy Halloween."

Ethan laughs and shakes his head in disbelief. "Happy Halloween, Spudsy."

Heath approaches Alberto a moment later and hands his phone over, watching Del Rio's face as he catches sight of Ricardo.

"Ay dios mio," he grunts, a sad sort of smile on his face. "Aren't you just waking up, mi valiente?"

"Si, I am," Ricardo nods, running his fingers through his mussed hair and brushing it out of his eyes. "I just wanted to surprise you and Heath suggested we try this." He smiles faintly. "Are you alright, El Patron?"

"I'm better now," he admits, running his finger over the screen reverently. "I miss you, mi valiente. Your hair is getting so long!"

Ricardo's expression turns sad. "I miss you too, El Patron. It _is_ amazing here, but it's not the same without you."

"That's basically how I feel," Alberto sighs. "Minus the amazing part, at any rate."

Ricardo purses his lips. "How's Zeb?" he asks slightly sarcastically.

"Ay, I do not want to speak about him," Alberto huffs, grinning when Ricardo winks at him. "Let's speak of you, how quickly are you whipping your students into shape?" He gets up and leaves the room to talk in privacy.

Ethan follows not long afterwards to focus while speaking with Spud about how things are going in England, his Visa issues, and how quickly the cats are growing, leaving Zack, Dolph, Heath and Wade alone. "I'd say that was a job well done," Heath sighs, leaning his head against Wade's shoulder.

"Yep, bro, I think so," Zack agrees, carefully undoing Dolph's pigtails and playing with his hair. They're all still sitting there, Hocus Pocus playing quietly from across the room, when Heath hears a shuffling sound and looks up to find Boodah gingerly walking towards them.

"Boodah boy!" he rebukes the big dog gently. "Careful, man." He leans forward and wraps his arms around Boodah as he settles at Heath's feet. "You lonely in there, huh?" Finding the last piece of a sub, he offers some beef to the dog and smiles when Boodah eats eagerly. "Poor guy."

Dolph jerks away when Zero follows, hopping up into their lap and twisting around, licking both his and Zack's faces eagerly. "Aw, come on!" he whines until Zack pats Zero's back and urges him to lay down. "It's not bad enough I have to be _Dorothy,_ now I'm covered in dog drool too." He huffs at Zack, rolling his eyes. "Of course _you_ like him." 

"Calm down, bro. He probably just misses Ricardo too." Zack scritches behind the puppy's ears, grinning down at him. "Who's a good boy, huh? Yeah..."

Sofia peeks in after a moment and smiles at them. "I'm going to bed shortly. Whenever you're ready, you know which guest rooms are yours, si?"

"Yeah, Sofia, we'll be fine," Zack tells her. "Good night."

"Good night. And thank you all for helping Senor Alberto through tonight."

"Our pleasure," Heath speaks up, Boodah now sprawled out over the couch, his face and upper body sprawled across his lap into Wade's. "Night, Sofia." As soon as she's disappeared, he turns to look at his dog and significant other, smirking upon finding that Wade's hand is resting on Boodah's forehead, lightly scratching. "You big ol' softie," he teases him, leaning over as best as he can without jostling Boodah.

"I am not," Wade snaps, but melts into a slow kiss with Heath anyway.

Zack and Dolph are the last ones to leave, Zack half watching Hocus Pocus while Dolph watches him. Finally, Binks gets his closure and happy endings all around, yada, and as the ending credits run, Zack yawns lazily, frowning as Dolph grabs for the remote. "Aw, c'mon," he whines.

"Nope. We're going to bed, so I can finally take this damn dress off and prepare to burn it tomorrow... and then I can unwrap you..." He smirks, his hands grazing over the tin and Zack rolls his eyes. "What do you say?"

"Fine, let's go." He gently urges Zero to hop off, allowing him to stand up, but the puppy follows them when they try to leave. "Uh, bro, I think we're going to have some company."

"Dammit," Dolph sighs. "Shut him up in Del Rio's room? Or Ricardo's old one? No one's in there?"

Zack grunts as the dog noses the back of his leg, startling him. "No, I think he's fine with us." He kneels down and smiles at Zero. "You wanna sleep with us, boy?"

"Ew," Dolph mutters overhead. Dolph recoils as Zack's hand impacts with his calf."Ow!"

"Grow up, bro," Zack sighs. "C'mon, Zero."

They walk side by side down the hall, Zack holding a hand up to stop Dolph. They can faintly hear Alberto's accented voice as he speaks in soft Spanish to Ricardo through the door of his office, and once they walk a few feet further, Ethan wandering around in his guest room is audible as he explains about Clover and Skunk's latest hijinx to Spud, who is softly giggling at the story, punctuated by faint mews every few moments.

Zack's hand slinks out and finds Dolph's, squeezing lightly as they continue on to their own room. "Too bad our various schedules won't allow us to do things this more often," Zack sighs, helping to unzip the dress in the back so Dolph can finally be free of the costume. "It was fun." He leans in and lightly kisses Dolph's neck, smiling when he shudders. "Thanks for being such a good sport about it all, bro."

"You owe me one," Dolph mumbles, blinking as Zack turns him back around.

"Guess I'll have to do something about that," he says with a grin, cupping Dolph's face and kissing him softly.

Dolph's eyes flicker to the side, relieved to find that Zero's laid down on the floor and fallen fast asleep. "Damn straight," Dolph sighs, his fingers running through Zack's hair and holding him in place as he deepens the kiss. "Happy Halloween, kid."


End file.
